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Integrating Pilates
Do you
want to improve the quality of
your life?
By Diana Nicholson
 Pilates
is so much more than a
repertoire of exercises. It's
an education in body awareness.
A good instructor will navigate
you through the repertoire,
bio-mechanically correct, find
your weak links and help you
strengthen all the muscles
around the moveable joints in
balance.
Change in the
body happens over time (not
overnight) with precise
concentrated effort. I
read in enlightenment magazine a
quote by philosopher Ken Wilber
during his VIII dialogue with
Andrew Cohen, “Awakening
consciousness is in love with
the world of form.” Pilates is
all about form.
There's a
definite science behind every
movement. Why are we doing what
we do? With each exercise we
strive to apply all the
principles of Pilate's;
Concentration
Precision
Breath
Form
Flow
Balance
The exercises
will typically be taught in a
variety of sequences by working
the opposite muscles. I watch
the body change and the mind
always follows (or vice versa).
It is an amazing thing to
witness. Without body awareness,
the strongest muscle usually
takes over, creating an
imbalance; one muscle gets
stronger and stronger while the
opposite muscle can not
activate-and simply begins to
atrophy. The strongest muscle
will often pull the bones with
them, inhibiting correct
biomechanical movement which can
be the cause of various
injuries, and as a result
physiologically it inhibits all
the systems in the body from
tracking optimally.
My job is to
watch the movement, and
encourage the degenerating
muscle to activate, by taking
the opposite muscle out of
constant flexion. An example of
what can happen when a muscle
remains in constant flexion
(hypertonic) is; a dog which
stands quadruped, to hold its
head up, their neck muscles
around the cervical spine remain
in constant flexion. As a result
there front muscles go slack,
ever wonder why dogs have turkey
neck? Front muscles can not
activate!
After I had my
baby it took years of
procrastination before I decided
that enough was enough, it was
time to get back into shape.
Right at the height of
kickboxing, a friend took me to
a class. We wrapped our hands in
gauze, and with boxing gloves,
we did a lot of hitting and
kicking. At the time I
had no body awareness.
I remember the first time I
went, I could barely sleep that
night because my wrists felt
like they were broken. In the
class, although I loved it, I
was coming home with all kinds
of terrible injuries. There
wasn't any talk of correct form
or precision and I found myself
doing a lot of flailing. I
simply lacked the strength in my
muscles.
After about four
months I felt stronger and I
lost weight, but something was
disturbing to
me, I did not have the same
shape I did before the baby. My
rib cage was wider (about 2
inches), my gluts didn't have
that round shape anymore (they
were getting a kind of flat butt
gripper look) I had no waist.
Worse yet, my knees started
hurting when I ran. What was
wrong? I was terrified that I
would never be the same again;
is this it meant when people say
their getting old? But I was
still young!
This was the
beginning of my awareness.
How you work out is how
your body reforms. Put
the bones where they belong (in
there correct biomechanical
position) then call for
movement.
A friend was
getting her Pilates
certification, and to support
her I agreed to be her first
client. It was completely
different than anything I had
done before. By the third
session I could feel my deep
abdominal muscles (my core), and
for the first time in years I
had hope! At the time I had no
idea, what an adventure it would
become, and how profoundly my
body would transform. Being a
graduate of the California
healing arts college, I
recognized that Pilates was
healing on so many levels. My
experience with Pilates has been
truly life altering.
In the beginning,
what I loved was how I looked.
Now with a deeper understanding
I see that Pilates is an
education in body movement.
Kickboxing, yoga, running,
cycling, volleyball, or any
sport that you might do will not
only be easier but greatly
enhanced as well. Besides the
obvious deep core strengthening,
you will gain long lean muscle,
straighter spine strong
abdominal and back muscles.
Bruce Lee said
“Be like water, let everything
flow”. Water can carve stone!
Integrating Pilates into your
every day lives, will make you
strong yet flexible, and you
will feel more comfortable in
your body too.
Pilate's true
value lies in its anti aging and
performance enhancement
abilities.
About the
author
Diana
is a teacher of Pilates in
Malibu California malibuhealthpilates
interested in the healing
arts and the unimpeded,
uninhibited movement or flow of
the Integrated Spirit, Soul and
Body.
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